Roll covers



F. CICERO ROLL COVERS March 24, 1959 Filed April 5. 1956 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent ROLL COVERS Frank Cicero, Los Angeles, Calif.

. Application April 5, 1956, Serial No. 576,500

2 Claims. (Cl. 220-30 This inventionrelates'to roll covers or rollclosures and more particularly to roll covers used on steam tables to keep food and meat hot and ready to prepare.

By the term roll cover" in the following specification and claims it is meant to refer to the complete utensil, that is both the stationary housing and the roll closure, or closure, assembled thereto.

The present invention particularly relates to an improvement of a roll cover for which the applicant was granted the U.S. Patent 2,697,536 and issued on Dec. 21, 1954.

The improvement is related to the claimed arrangement, described in claim 1 of said patented roll cover, whereby condensed steam dripping from a V-shaped portion of the top of the housing adjacent to a downwardly turned edge or flange thereof over the aperture of the roll cover is caught by an upwardly turned edge or flange of the closure to prevent the vapor liquid from dripping onto the food being covered and therefore to spoil its flavor.

In the present improvement the V-shaped portion is omitted and said downwardly turned flange is provided with a curved rim or bottom, so that the vapor liquid running forwardly on the slant top or ceiling and thence on the turned down flange may run along or on said curved rim toward the sides of the housing without dripping on the outer surface of the closure and making it soiled with grease.

Moreover, in order to obtain minimum loss of steam and at the same time prevent the greasy condensed moisture from running onto the outer surface of the closure, I provide a further improvement by constructing the top end of the closure in a way that it forms a channel or a sideway gutter, the end of which may normally abut against the inner side of the turned down flange of the housing, this flange being preferably slanted a little outwardly. And I further provide a grooved surface on the inside of said turned down flange, so that the vapor liquid may run downwardly in the grooves and keep away from the closure edge which would deviate the liquid toward the outer surface of the closure and soil it.

It is noted that the described improvements are inherent to the roll cover particularly when produced in a molded form, as molded of plastics. In other words, the priorly mentioned arrangement relative to the patented roll cover is satisfactorily adaptable to a sheet metal or hand made construction and also to a molded construction, whereas the present arrangement or arrangements are adaptable or satisfactorily adaptable only to or particularly to a molded construction, since the production cost factor has to be taken in detailed consideration. Furthermore it is to be noted that when a cooked leg of lamb or the like having a long bone is placed in a pan under a roll cover, one is inclined to or has to let the end of the bone protrude out of the roll cover and therefore lets the closure lay in partly closed position. In such a case the arrangement featured in the priorly stated patented roll cover becomes obsolete in so far as preventing the dripping of the greasy condensed moisture over the outer surface of the closure; however in that same case the newly improved arrangement, featuring the curved bottom of the downwardly turned flange of the housing, will not become obsolete so far as said dripping is concerned.

I further include novel means substituting the commonly used angle frame attached to the housing and surrounding the bottom of the roll cover and having a flange or portion adaptable to be overlain by the flange of a meat pan to keep the roll cover from moving when operating the closure, said pan being covered by the roll cover. Said novel means comprise a couple of dot snappers or stud means or pins pending from the bottom of the housing beneath the pivoting points and adaptable to insert into apertures provided on the steam table top whereon the roll cover may be used. Another pin may be used at the back of the housing. And said pins may be provided on the steam table top, the bottom of the housing being provided with the apertures therefor. The angle frame being substituted by the pins, the closure of my roll 'cover does not over-pivot and cause the utensil to become hard to handle as when cleaning it, since the upwardly turned end and the handle of the closure function also as pivoting or rolling stops. The main object of introducing the aforesaid novel means to substitute the aforesaid bottom angle frame is to obtain an improved roll cover which does away with unsanitary dirt trap corners and crevices which are present in the roll covers now in use.

Detailed description The drawings herein are intended for the purpose of illustration only.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the outside of the roll cover in closed position.

Fig. 2 is a cut-away front view of the roll cover as taken from line II-II in Fig. 1 and where can be seen more clearly the curved bottom of the turned down flange of the housing.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation view in section as taken from line III-III in Fig. 2 and showing the turned down flange as being provided with the grooved inside surface.

Fig. 3 shows an alternative arrangement of the one in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows a bottom view of a section of said turned down grooved flange.

Referring to the drawings: 2 indicates the housing of the roll cover comprised by two upstanding sides 3 provided with the studs or pins 3' and a back 4 and having the top or ceiling 6 pitched downwardly from a summit thereof and ending at the front with the turned down flange 9 which has the curved rim or bridge-like bottom edge 10. Said walls and top provide an oblique frame 12 or aperture slant approximately 30. 14 indicates the closure, the sides 15 of which are approximately 60 sector shaped and are bolted to the sides of the roll cover at 16. 17 indicates the handle for the closure which may be molded therewith; 20 indicates the channel-like portion of the front 21 of the closure; 22 indicates the grooves or grooved inner side of the turned down flange 9 whereon the condensed moisture may run without being deviated by the adjacent horizontal end portion 24 of the closure and thence run along the curved bottom 10 of the turned down flange and toward the sides 3 of the housing on the frame 12 thereof. It is noted that, depending on the kind of mold used or on the fabricating material used, said end portion 24 may be made slanting downwardly, as indicated in Patented Mar. 24, 1959' Fig. 3 thus making it-possible to omit the grooves 22 on the flange since thevaporliquid cannot run upwardly. The handle 17 in this roll .cover is adaptable to stop the pivoting or rolling of the closure and hold the same in the open .position when it abuts against theadown turned. flange -9'over the. aperture of the housing.

While I have herein shown :my improved device as embodied in one ormore. formsof construction, byaway of example, it will be apparent that further alterations or modifications or adaptations might be made min-the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention. Consequently without limiting myself in this respect, I claim asmy invention:

1. In a-device of the type referred toand having a housing comprising two parallel, upright side walls, a back wall auda top .pitche'd downwardly from a=sumrnit thereof and said walls and top providing an oblique frame slant approximately 30 outwardly to form a frontaperture of-said housing,- said device further having a roll closure for said aperture, comprising a front and two approximatelyfifl" sector shaped side walls parallel to-andipivotally fixed on said side walls of the housing: a turned down flange provided at the front end of said pitched top and having a curved or pitched bottom edge or rim adaptable to let vapor liquid running down on the inner surface of said pitched top and thence on the inner side of said flange-continue'to run-along said. pitched bottom of the flange and toward the sides of the housing, when theroll cover may hein .useovera steam .table.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 and including: a grooved surface provided at the inner side of said turned down flange; and a channel-like portion provided on said front of the closure and having its edge normally adjacent or abutting against the grooved surface and adaptable to let the vapor. liquid run down in the grooves without deviating it toward the outer surface of the closure.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 and including: a channel-like portion of said front of the closure having an upper end or flange slanting downwardly normally adjacent or abutting against the inner surface of the turned down flange of the 'housing and adaptable to prevent the vapor liquid from running over the outer surface of the closure.

References Cited in the fileof this a patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 263,636 Weiss. Aug. 29, 1882 2,697,536 Cicero Dec. 21, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 730,746 Erance May 23, 1932 

